| First MQM insurrection | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of MQM Militancy | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
 Armed Afghan migrants | ||||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||
 APSMO |  Pakistan Army  Sindh Police Sindh Rangers | Armed Afghan migrants | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| 1000+ killed | ||||||||
In between 1972 and 1992, MQM's first insurrection came to an end following Pakistan government's Operation Cleanup conducted in order to destroy the MQM stronghold in Karachi.
The ancestor of the MQM was the All Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organization (APMSO), drew its support from muhajir defectors from the heavily armed Islami Jamiat ut-Taleba(IJT). A large number of Jamaat-i-Islami members who were ethnic Muhajirs shifted their loyalties to the MQM overnight, resulting in the elimination of the former influence of the Jamaat. APMSO was radicalised when in 1985-86 the first (of the many) major ethnic clashes took place between Karachi. [1] Faced by the superior and sophisticated firepower brought in by Afghan refugees, MQM dispatched a delegation of APMSO members to Hyderabad to meet a militant group from the Sindhi nationalist student organisation, the JSSF. APMSO were given some small firearms by PSF in the early 1980s, but it was JSSF that sold the APMSO its first large cache of AK-47s that were then used to tame the heavily armed IJT in 1987 and 1988, eventually breaking IJT's hold at KU and in various other state-owned campuses in Karachi. Admist ethnic violence, MQM's armed wings used street fighting and urban warfare which sought to use violence to control governing structures and appointments such as the Karachi Port Trust, Karachi Municipal Corporation and the Karachi Developmental Authority. [2] During the MQM's stint in power in 1991, when it was part of the provincial government of Sindh, the party endorsed and participated in raids and the mass-arrests of its political rivals. Additionally, the MQM, supported by the government, was accused of operating as a mafia organization where its heavily armed militants used extortion and coercion to increase their influence. [3]
The MQM's initial source of funding relied on Zakat, voluntary donations from its members. However, in the 1990s, the MQM adopted a new approach called "Bhatta" or forced tax and protection money collection from commercial areas in Karachi. The party also resorted to illegal funding methods such as bank robberies in 1988. [4] The "Bhattia" mafia extorted money from various professionals, including traders, businessmen, bankers, doctors, teachers, construction workers, and religious figures. This illegal funding scheme blurred the lines between politics and crime in Karachi, as some criminal groups transformed into political parties' armed wings. [5] [6]
MQM has allegedly resorted to violence against journalists and media outlets critical of the party's violent activities. [7] Starting from 1991, the MQM engaged in destructive activities against newspapers that criticized them, with members of the group involved in looting and burning down offices. In fact, the management of Herald publications in Karachi had to suspend the distribution of the Dawn newspaper on March 21, 1991, after what it called a week-long "terror campaign" carried out by the MQM which involved abductions, intimidation, and attacks against newspaper vendors, distributors, and hawkers. [8]
Operation was launched by Sindh Police to target MQM workers in Pakka Qilla Hyderabad. Over 250 besieged innocent men, women, children was massacred during the operation which carried on for 275 hours before Pakistan army men eventually moved in. [9]
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), previously known as Muhajir Qaumi Movement, is a secular political party in Pakistan that was founded by Altaf Hussain in 1984. Currently the party is split between 2 main factions. MQM-London faction is controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while MQM-Pakistan is run by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan. Its electoral symbol was a kite.
Altaf Hussain is a British Pakistani politician who is known as the founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He holds United Kingdom citizenship and has been living in exile in the UK since the start of Operation Clean-up. Since 2015, he has been a fugitive from the Anti Terrorism Court of Pakistan on the charges of murder, targeted killing, treason, inciting violence and hate speech. He went on trial in the UK in January 2022 for promoting terrorism and unrest through hate speech in Pakistan, and was acquitted the next month. He had fled the country in 1992 after a crackdown against his party was launched.
Azeem Ahmed Tariq was a Pakistani politician who was the Chairman and one of the founding members of MQM and its student wing APMSO. The party was formed to fight for the rights of the Mohajir people in Sindh.
The All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization is a Pakistani student organization notable for creating a political party: the Muhajir Quami Movement, now called the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
Operation Clean-up, also known as Operation Blue Fox, was an armed military intelligence program led by the Sindh Police and Pakistan Rangers, with an additional assistance from the Pakistan Army and its related intelligence agencies. Planned by the FIA, Intelligence Bureau and launched the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1992, the program was more strictly pursued by upcoming Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1993–1994, as part of her internal policies.
The Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan also known as Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi), MQM-Haqiqi is a political party claiming to represent the Mohajir in Sindh, Pakistan whose leader is Afaq Ahmed.
The Muhajir people are Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the 1947 independence to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other major urban centres of Pakistan.
The Politics of Karachi takes place at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of the government. Karachi is a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multireligious metropolitan city. The demographics of Karachi are important as most politics in Karachi is driven by ethnic politics.
Afaq Ahmed is a Pakistani politician who is the founder and leader of Muhajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) (MQM-H), a break-away faction of the much larger than Muhajir Qaumi Movement which later became Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The Qasba–Aligarh massacre was an ethnic massacre that took place when recently settled armed tribals attacked densely populated locals in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and Sector 1-D of Orangi in Karachi in the early hours of the morning on 14 December 1986. According to official reports, around 49 people were killed and several hundred were injured in what was perceived as a "revenge killing" following an unsuccessful raid on a Afghan heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces. Most of the residents of the two colonies who were attacked happened to be Muhajirs like Biharis who had been freshly repatriated from Bangladesh.
Muhajir culture is the culture of the various Muslims of different ethnicities who migrated mainly from North India in 1947 generally to Karachi, the federal capital of Pakistan and before 1947 Karachi is the capital of Sindh. They consist of various ethnicities and linguistic groups. The Muhajirs are mainly concentrated in Karachi and Hyderabad.
On September 30, 1988, hundreds of people, mostly Muhajirs, were killed in Hyderabad, Sindh in what was known as "Black Friday". The death toll was above 250, and the attacks are said to have been coordinated and carried out by Sindhi nationalist militants. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on large crowds of innocent bystanders, including women and children, in Latifabad. The MQM accused Qadir Magsi and nationalists carrying out the attack.
The Sindh Mohajir Punjabi Pathan Muttahida Mahaz was a political party in the Pakistani province Sindh. The party was founded in 1969. Nawab Muzaffar Khan was the convenor of MPPM. In theory the party sought to serve as a political platform for Muhajirs, Pashtuns and Punjabis in Sindh, but in reality it functioned as a Muhajir political party as the Pashtun and Punjabi presence in the MPPM ranks was very limited. The party mobilized Urdu-speaking Muhajirs against the emerging Sindhi nationalist movement. It was led by Muhajir bureaucrats and businessmen. The main base of the MPPM was the city of Hyderabad.
The Insurgency in Sindh is a low-intensity insurgency waged by Sindhi Nationalists against the government of Pakistan. Sindhi nationalists want to create an independent state called Sindhudesh.
Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman is a Pakistani social activist, engineer, politician and Central Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan for the session 2024-2029. Previously he served as the President of Jamaat-e-Islami, Karachi from 2013 to 2024.
The 2023 Karachi local government elections were held in Karachi, Pakistan on 15 January 2023 to elect members of local councils. These members would then elect the Mayor of Karachi (2023-2027). These elections were the 3rd Karachi local government elections.
Following is a list of incidents that have been identified as ethnicity related riots or massacres in Sindh province of Pakistan, particularly in between the 1980's and 1990's.
Pucca Qila Operation was an operation launched by Sindh Police on the orders PPP led Sindh government against MQM party workers and ordinary protesters in the Pucca Qila area of Hyderabad city. The operation resulted in the deaths of more than 70 people, including men, women and children. The incident resulted in the dismissal of the Benazir Bhutto government by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, allegedly on the orders of Pakistan army.
MQM militancy refers to militancy in Pakistan associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party.
The second MQM insurrection referred to an insurrection by MQM, a political and militant organisation representing Muhajir people which launched an insurrection in 1978 against Sindh government as well as multiple other opponents. This insurrection was suppressed by Pakistan army in the Operation Cleanup. In 1994, after the military's withdrawal, MQM launched another wave of anti-state, sectarian and ethnic violence. Its intensity died down following Operation Lyari and Karachi targeted action. The 2015 Nine-Zero raids saw several key MQM leaders arrested and the beginning of a crackdown on the party. Another crackdown in August 22, 2016 saw the closure party headquarters near 90 Azizabad, Khursheed Memorial Hall, MPA Hostel, and Jinnah Park, the arrest of other MQM leaders and "marked the end of the story for the party founder, Altaf." of In 2016 the Muttahida movement began to fragment, seeing the rise of MQM-Pakistan and other breakaway factions like the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), MQM-PIB colony and MQM-Bahadurabad factions. The original faction becoming known as MQM-London.
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